[Note: This is the final in a series of Research Notes by Platte’s intern, focusing on county zoning and agriculture issues. A full paper dealing with these issues will be published later this fall.] Over the past decade, Nebraska’s legislature has repeatedly sought to address issues related to the Conditional Use Permits (CUPs) and Special...
[Note: This is the fifth in a series of Research Notes by Platte’s intern, focusing on county zoning and agriculture issues. The final (sixth) note will include discussion of a bill currently before the Legislature.] In addition to Iowa, Nebraska’s other neighboring states have faced zoning challenges related to permitting new livestock operations. While Iowa...
[Note: This is the fourth in a series of Research Notes by Platte’s summer intern, focusing on county zoning and agriculture issues] Thirteen years before Nebraska developed its Livestock Siting Assessment Matrix, its neighbor, Iowa, implemented a similar tool. In 2002, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) introduced a scoring system, known as the...
Introduced in 2015, the Nebraska Livestock Matrix is a tool designed to help counties evaluate proposed livestock operations seeking conditional use or special exception permits. Created to promote consistency across county lines in the permitting process, the committee tasked with developing the matrix faced two significant challenges in aligning its objectives. First, the tool needed...
[Note: This is the second in a series of Research Notes by Platte’s summer intern, focusing on county zoning and agriculture issues] In Nebraska, conditional use and special exception permits are regulatory tools used by county commissions or boards to allow specific land uses that are not typically permitted under existing zoning rules but may...
Note: This is the first in a series of Research Notes authored by this year’s Platte Institute Summer Intern, Jakob Myers. Jakob is researching information related to zoning issues involving livestock facilities. The continued growth of Nebraska’s agricultural sector depends significantly on the development and expansion of livestock operations across the state. These projects typically...
Ratemaking is one of the oldest and most important responsibilities of many Public Service Commissions (PSCs) around the US. While the issue isn’t as important as other regulatory tools for the Nebraska Public Service Commission (NePSC) due to the state’s size and the commission’s limited jurisdiction, this research note will provide an overview of ratemaking...
While there are many aspects of institutional design to consider with Public Service Commissions (PSCs), like jurisdiction, responsibilities, and agency structure, the commissioner selection process is the most important because it affects who leads the agencies. Should decision-makers be representatives of the people’s will, political appointees who understand the broader system, or knowledgeable technocrats? State...
The Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) traces its roots to the Nebraska Board of Railroad Commissioners (which two years later became the Board of Transportation), an agency created by the legislature in 1885 to investigate claims of unfair practices by railroads in the state. The Nebraska State Railway Commission was established by constitutional amendment in...
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of research notes compiled by Platte’s second summer intern this year, Alexander Endorf, exploring the history and jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission in Nebraska. What are Public Service Commissions? Public service commissions, also called public utilities commissions or corporation commissions, are quasi-judicial agencies that regulate...
A decade ago, Florida was far from the model for economic freedom from regulatory burden. The state ranked 8th among 44 states with 168,795 regulatory restrictions according to a review of states with the highest regulation count done by the Mercatus Institute at George Mason University. Florida now leads the nation in migration gains, even...
As previously discussed, economic statements are crucial for quantifying the impact of regulations and ensuring that state agencies thoroughly evaluate all options and understand the downsides before regulating the state’s economy. Furthermore, these reports should be independently reviewed to verify the legitimacy of the agencies’ findings. Texas, unsurprisingly, hits all the positive marks for impact...
Editor’s Note: As the 5th of 7 planned research notes by our summer intern, Stephen Trainer, this post discusses the concept of regulatory sandboxes. The Platte Institute has supported several regulatory sandbox efforts, including a comprehensive one (which would cover multiple industries) and the most recent one (LB587 in 2023/24), which provides for an “insuretech...
A few states outside the midwest provide promising templates for regulatory reform and modernization, a pressing issue for Nebraska. Idaho and Virginia notably embarked on a mission to unshackle citizens from a growing administrative state, as discussed by a Mercatus Study in 2019. Six years ago, Virginia passed the Regulatory Reform Pilot Program that tasked...